Thieves break in to Westwood day care, steal field trip money

Police are investigating after a Westwood day care was hit by thieves early Friday morning, leaving staff to pick up the pieces and the children left wondering why.

It happened at St. James Day Care on Boudinot Avenue.

It all started when the thieves got into the building through a window. Once inside, they were caught on camera inside for about an hour.

"They were going through cabinets, just throwing things just to see what they could find," said Kelli Banks, assistant director at St. James Day Care.

What those thieves found, and took, was a television, five tablets, a laptop, a Nintendo Wii.

"I felt violated. Somebody was in here touching our stuff, going through our things," said Bridget Osborne, who is a teacher there as well as having a son who attends.

But, it gets worse.

On top of the electronics stolen, $400 was also taken. It was cash raised by the kids for summer field trips they now won't have a chance to experience.

"I feel really, really sad because we were supposed to go to Coney Island, and they stole some of our money," said 9-year old Alexis Colbert.

"I had a little boy come to me and he said 'Miss Kelli, they stole money from me. $20 that I raised for our field trips, and they stole money from me,'" said Banks.

It's money they raised through bake sales, and money they likely won't have time to raise again. There's only one answer staff members can give when these kids ask, "Why?"

"I just said there are some people in the world that aren't as nice as us," Osborne told FOX19.

Just minutes after that, the Auto Lot, a car dealership across the street from St. James Day Care had two individuals attempt to break into their building, which was caught on their surveillance cameras. Employees say they never got in, and took off when a motion sensor alarm sounded.